Flexible filing-cabinet



C. G. RAY. FLEX|BLE FILING CABINET. APPLICATION FILED APR-26,1921.

1,401,188, Patented Dec. 27,1921. 4

2 SHEETS- SHEET 1- QGBMUMM Wm I BarL l3-fiag C. G. RAY. FLEXIBLE FILINGCABINET. APPLICATIONYFILED APR. 26. 1921.

1,401,188. Patented Dec. 27, 1921.

1 /8/2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- I EarL [53.51 WWW/J4 v &/% %Z?zy UNITED sTAresPATENT OFFIfiE.

CARL e. nnit or enema, WISCONSIN.

FLEXIBLE FILING-CABINET.

Sp fifi a'ti t r Patented Dec. 27, 1921,.

Application filed April 26, 1921. Serial No. 464,662.

' filed are capable of automatic expansion and contraction with relation"to "each other to compensate for the thickness of articles filedtherein. Thus the problem I have solved is the provision of means forautomatically varying the size of thefiling pockets, "so as tomaterially increase the capacity of a cabinet, bearing 1 in 'mi-nd thatin filing articles, that the volume of such articles in some pocketsgreatly exceeds; that of another. Hence, 'where the pockets are of afixed maXi-mum capacity, .itr follows that a great deal'of space islost, due to the fact that articles of minimum "volume must be insertedin the maximum pockets.

Anothecobject of my invention is to provide a series of rigid,independently movable partitions, forming therebetwen COIIlpensatingpockets capable of? varying in proportion to the thickness of articlesfiled therein.

To provide means for yieldingly pressing the series of partitionstogether, whereby the pockets are automatically adjusted in prbportionto the volume of articles filed.

To provide for ;sinn ltaneoiislyv shifting the series of partitions inopposition to'pressure, together with means for selectively locking anyone o'i "the partitions, whereby the pressure means will exert-force toshift the"assoeiated partition, :to thereby {expand the pocketassociated with the lock partition for clearance, tliusfac'cornplishinga -clearanc'e space whereby 'acc ess maybehad to the articles filed inthis particular popketf in order that they may be 'removed or addedto.

With the above and other minorobjects in view, the invention consists incertain peculiarities of construction and combinationof parts, "as "are*hereinafter'set forth with reterenceto thefaccompanyin'g illus- .eeasier ew in the drawings: 7

Figure 1 represents a sectional elevation of a cabinet embodylng thefeatures of my 'invention, the length of the cabinet being contractedfor convenience in illustration, the section being indicated by line l lof Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional plan view of the cabinet, with certain partsbroken away to more clearly illustrate certain features, the sectionbeing indicated by line 2-2 of Fig. l, and r Fig. 3 is a contractedlongitudinal sectional view of the cabinet, as indicated by line 33 ofFig. 1, the same showing the cabinet parts with the partitions removed.

Referring by characters to the drawings, 1 represents the rear wall and2-2 the side walls of a standard cabinet, provided with a hinged door 3at its front for access thereto, the side walls below the door beingconnected by, an apron i, which, in cong'unction with said side wallsand rear walhiorms a well atthe bottom'of the'cabinet for reciprocativemovement of a tray composed of top and bottom heads 5-6 respectively,which heads are connected by side panels 7-7 and a rear panelB, the sidepanels being o'tslightly less width than the depth oi the tray, wherebya clearance space is formed "for longitudinally disposed cornpanion setsof rack bars 99-.99,

which rack bars are secured to the side walls 7 of the 'cabinet'and areformed with up- .wajrdly extended sawteeth -10, a's-bestshown in Fig. 1.Obviously, these rack bars may bemodified within the lmowledge ofskilled mechanics; I

Thef fron't edge of thebottom head has secured, thereto an apron board6, whereby thelgapflncidental to movement of the tray in a verticaldirection, is closed with respect 'to-thefront ot the cabinet Thus, itwill be seen that the tray is in telescopic union, with the cabinet, andis held against lateral rnoveinent by the cabinet walls in onedirection, and in the other direction by the bars 9-9,the edges of whicherve as guides in connection with the abutting edges of the tray panels7+7. The tray, in this 'exemplification of my invention, is gravitycontrolled and is normally suspended at its lowermost position by astrap 1*1, which-is secured to the top head?) of the tray and to aspindle l2, whichv spindle is Ioui-nalul in suitable bearings formedtherefor in the side walls of the cabinet.

The spindle projec" ey nd one wall of the cabinet and tel with a handcrank 13.

through which the nose portions of said plungers project whenfunctioning.

The companion plungers are urged into engageme t with the rack bars bysprings l7'l8, which springs in this instance are ormedin one piece andare coiled about nchor pins 19-20. From the'anchor pins, he spring unitstake the form of a double wedge X that inclines in both directions froma central loop, and this double wedge of the spring is controlled by acam head 21 having wedge shaped flanges 22, which are adapted to engagethe wedged faces 55 of the spring members, The cam is reciprocativelyguided in a push rod 23, which rod is secured to one of the walls of thepartition, and movement is imparted thereto by the push rod 23, whichpush rod extends out through the front wall of the partition andterminates with a button.

Hence, it will be seen that when the push rod is-drawn outwardly, asshown in Fig.

2, the spring elements 1', l'?18-18 are permitted to function, wherebythe plungers are held inyielding locked engagement with their associatedrack bars 99. When 1t isdesired to unlock the partition from the rackbars, the push rod 23 1s moved inwardly by pressure of the operator,whereby the cam 21 will exert a wedging force upon the central coils ofthe spring members to thus cause said members to rock ots l9 and 20,whereby they serve the purpose of levers to simultaneously retract thetwo sets of locking plungers from engage- 'ment with the teeth of therack bars.

The exemplilication of my invention, as shown, is particularly arrangedfor use in connection with alphabetically arranging phonograph records,sheet music, general office filing, etc, whereby they can be quicklyremoved and replaced in a cabinet of minimum sire.- Obviously, theflexible cabinet may be used for storing any type of records orarticles. lln'practice, it is desirable to label each partition with anindex,

upon their ply-- and in connection with these indices a record sheet canbe used, whereby the devices in the various-pockets can be selected,but, of course, the indlces arrangement forms no part of my inventionexcept in so far that it is a convenient method for locatingandrecording the articles stored in the cabinet. While I have shown onlythree partitions in the cabinet toillustrate the principle, of

my invention, obviously the cabinet can be supplied with a suflicientnumber-to fill it a when they are separated to produce the maximumpocket space. 1, for example, there are three partitions, A, B and C.Normally, the partitions are snugly nested together, and when in use,they are spaced apart the thickness of the pile of records g containedtherebetween.

Should it be desired to have access to the pile of records below thepartition B, for example, the operator will rotate the crank handle 13and the tray will be raised a pre- As shown in Fig:

determined fixed distance by winding up the strap l1, upon the spindle12. After this lifting of the gravity controlled tray is elfected, theoperator withdraws or pulls out the push rod 23 in connectionwithpartition B, whereby its associated locking will enter the rackssimultaneously. The operator thereafter releases the crank 13 andpermits the tray to. drop to its normal position, leaving the tray B andall trays thereabove locked in suspension. lhus the associated pocket oftray B containing the records "y will be materially widened, for thereason that all of the trays therebelow will travel downward by gravityto the limit of movement of said tray. Thisaction leaves a clearancespace atthe top of the records to whichaccess is desired, whereby the0perator can readily remove such records as he may require, and when itis desired to return the records, the pocket, which is of the greatestwidth due" to the locking action, is

in position to receive such records.

The operator then pushes the rod 23 in wardly, whereby the. partition Bis freed from the rack, and thus it, together with all partitions above,will drop down so as to form a compact mass. This action can be impartedin connection with any pocket of the series, it being understood thatthe partitions are rigid, soas to sustain the sus= pended load lockedfrom engagement with the cabinet walls, all of the {mass above saidpartition will drop by gravity.

While I have shown a completeexemplification of my invention in all ofits details,

obviously I may vary the structural features,

as for example, any kind of lockingmechanism can be used in connectiontrays, and in some cases these trays may be locked by friction. Inorderto insure the dropping of the trays by gravity without plunger andwhen the partition is un-' with the rigid binding, I have, in thisinstance, shown a pair of wire stretches 24 which are secured to theback wall 01 the tray, and which stretches serve as metallic railsagainst which the rear edges of the trays may slide, thus making a metalcontact whereby fric: tion is avoided.

It will also be observed that the cabinet may be of any shape incross-section, and also that the partitioned walls may be varied as toshape indefinitely, without departing from the spirit f the invention. 7

it is also within the province of my invention to reverse the movementof the tray. T hat is, said tray may be normally held at its uppermostposition and depressed for obtaining the separation of the trayelements, and it should also be understood that as a substitute for thegravity arrangement shown, I may employ a weight or springs, in whichcase the partitions would be arranged to slide horizontally under ayielding tension in place of sliding vertically, as shown.

It is further understood that I may vary the structural ieatures of theinvention within the scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. A flexible filing device comprising a cabinet, a shittable traymounted therein, a series of independently movable rigid partitionsmounted in the tray, the partitions forming compensating pocketstherebetween capable of varying in proportion to the thickness of thearticles filed therein, means for shifting the tray and series ofpartitions in either direction, and means for selectively locking anyone of the partitions to the cabinet, whereby the associated pocketthereof is expanded following movement of the tray.

2. A flexible filing device comprising a cabinet, racks carried thereby,a vertically movable tray mounted in the cabinet, a series of rigidpartitions normally supported by the tray and adapted to form pockets ofvarying sizes for articles inserted therebetween, the proportions of thepockets being controlled by gravity, means for lifting the tray, andmeans for locking any one of the partitions after the tray has beenlifted, whereby a clearance space is formed between the locked tray andits associated pocket for access to articles contained therein.

A flexible filing device comprising a cabinet, racks carried thereby, avertically movable tray mounted in the cabinet, a series of rigidpartitions normally supported by the tray and adapted to form pockets ofvarying sizes for articles inserted therebetween, the proportions of thepockets being controlled by gravity, means for lifting the tray, andmanually controlled clutch means carried by each tray for locking thesame after it has been lifted, whereby a clearance space is formedbetween the locked tray and its associated pocket for access to articlescontained therein.

in testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand atMilwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin.

CARL G. RAY.

